This invention relates to media devices having a broadcast radio receiver capable of receiving broadcast media along with broadcast media data and a transceiver capable of requesting and retrieving enhanced media data.
Traditional media devices, e.g., an MP3 player, typically connect with a headset to enable a user to listen to music. Other media devices may include a display that displays videos. Many types of media devices are portable and have compact form factors to enable efficient handling and use by a user. Certain media devices include a radio broadcast receiver capable of receiving amplitude modulated (AM), frequency modulated (FM), or satellite broadcast media. The media can typically include a song, video, news program, or radio show. Certain media devices, e.g., cellular telephones, include wireless transceivers capable of exchanging data with a public land mobile network (PLMN) or wireless data network that may be linked with the Internet or other data networks. Other media devices are capable of interfacing with personal area networks (PAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), satellite data networks (SAN), and other data networks including, for example, Wi-fi (802.x) networks.
In addition to providing broadcast media (e.g., songs, video, television programs, and radio shows), certain broadcast media sources can supplement the broadcast media with broadcast media data. The broadcast media data can include media metadata (e.g., information about a particular song) or data about the broadcast source (e.g., the name of the broadcasting radio station).
The Radio Data System (RDS) is a communications standard developed by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that enables the transmission of small amounts of broadcast media data using FM radio broadcasts. RDS can send various types of broadcast media data including: time, track title, track artist, and station identification. RDS has been used in Europe and South America since the early 1990s.
The Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS) is the name for the North American version of RDS, and is also often referred to simply as “RDS.” The North American and European versions are nearly identical. Both RDS versions use a 57 kHz sub carrier to carry broadcast media data at 1187.5 bits per second.
One problem with using existing broadcast radio systems is that the broadcast media data is relatively small which limits the amount, quality, and types of media data that can practically be transmitted to a media device. For example, Radio Text (RT) provided by RDS is limited to 64-character text data. Thus, RT media data is typically limited to radio station slogans, song titles, or artist names. RDS cannot support the transmission of significantly larger amounts of enhanced media data for, for example, detailed graphics or video-based data. Accordingly, there is a need to enable a media device to retrieve significantly greater amounts of enhanced media data.
Another problem with existing broadcast radio systems is that the broadcast media data is not specific to a particular target media device. The broadcast provider provides the broadcast media data as, for example, RDS data that is available to all radio receivers. Unfortunately, different radio receivers or different media devices may have different capabilities or features. Also, the user of a particular media device may have a preference for a particular type of media data. Accordingly, there is a need to enable a media device to retrieve certain types of enhanced media data based on the media device's capabilities and/or user's preferences.